Being Humbled Again: New Balance Girls Night Out #2

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending another New Balance Girls’ Night Out event. If you’ll remember, I attended the first one back in May, and there was a second event in June which I was supposed to go to, but I ended up having to cancel due to personal reasons. So this month, I was excited to be able to make it back for the July NBGNO event. (To read more about what GNO is all about, check out my last post about the May event here.)

The theme of this one was “Self Expression”, basically doing whatever it is that YOU love for fitness — not being tied down by what you think you “should” be doing. There were three workouts offered before the social aspect of the night: a Flywheel Spin class, a signature group class from Equinox (this was a rooftop bootcamp..how swanky!), or a fun-run. Since I have gone to a spin class exactly once in my life, I thought it would be fun to try out the Flywheel class. The fact that it was held on the sidewalk outside of the New Balance Store in Copley Square (one of the busiest parts of the city) was both awesome and terrifying. Being watched by perfect strangers as they walk by on their way home from work? Okay, cool. 🙂

Here we are, right on Boylston Street during the evening commute rush hour!

My friend Meg came with me again, and we both decided to do the Flywheel workout along with Athena (of Fitness and Feta — if you don’t read her blog, do it!). Setting up for the class was actually pretty funny — like I said, I am not a regular at spin, and thus had no idea how to set up my bike or where everything was supposed to be. At one point there was one instructor working on my pedals while another was working on my seat.. so… yea, who’s the new kid? Awkward. Anyway, once we got going, I realized that all of the strangers walking by were not only going to see us work out, but they were about to see me get my ass kicked. Big time.

All smiles with Meg, pre ass-whooping!

Getting ready to warm up with Athena!

I’m not sure if it was the time of day (I’m a morning exerciser and tend to have a harder time with evening workouts), if I was dehydrated, or if I hadn’t eaten enough that day, but it was pretty clear to me immediately that this wasn’t going to be easy. Did I make it through the class? Yes, just barely, honestly. Every time the instructor told us to bring the bikes to a certain torque level or a certain speed, I felt like I couldn’t physically make myself do either. My legs felt like they were made of cement, and I’m sure I didn’t look too great to anyone walking by! I even found myself getting dizzy and nauseous during the end of the workout and thought for a minute that I might have to get off my bike. Embarrassing, no? The thing is though, I kept smiling through (almost) all of the workout. As much physical torment as I was in, the Flywheel instructor we had, Christina, was absolutely amazing. She had incredible energy and found a way to make even the most torturous 35 minutes seem fun. I would definitely head to the Flywheel studio for more classes just to have her as an instructor — there are certain people that just have motivation and passion in their blood, and she has it.

See? What did I say..Smiling through my pain 🙂 [Photo Credit: New Balance Back Bay]

After we got off the bikes, we went back inside the store to meet up with the bootcamp group and the run group. As before, the store had basically turned into a party with snacks, drinks, swag bags, a DJ and some great speakers. It was a blast! Again, it was so great to catch up with some Boston blogging friends, as we are all so busy and usually these types of events are the only times we see each other!

Catching up with Athena after our serious sweat sesh!

Some of the awesomeness in our swag bags.. They were screen printing these towels with whichever slogan you chose!

New Balance has really got a good thing going on with these Girls Night Out events, and I strongly encourage you to check out the website and figure out if there are any of these in your area! Building social connections around fitness events is such a wonderful way to bring women together, and when you follow it up with delicious snacks and cocktails, how can you beat it? The summer Girls Night Out events are over, but I’ve heard word on the street that they’ll kick back up in the fall. I’ll keep you all up to date when there are any more Boston GNO events coming up in the future, but in the meantime, you can always use the Girls Night Out website to set up your own fun runs and group fitness events where you are, no matter where you live.

And I am proud to announce that despite my dismal showing at spin that night, I did show up to my November Project workout the next morning and complete 27 sections of Harvard Stadium with a 15 lb kettle bell in my pack. I like to think I redeemed myself with that one. 🙂

I need to get to one of these NBGNO! I missed the earlier ones because I was teaching on Thursday nights 😦 I didn’t know you did November Project- I have a regular in my classes who is obsessed and after doing like 30 sections with the weight came to my class after work- she is like non-human insane when it comes to working out! hahah

You know, I actually agree that it’s not a flattering picture of me. But I posted it because I was proud of what I had accomplished that morning, and that far outweighed how I looked at that particular moment.

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Welcome to I Train Therefore I Eat! I'm Stephanie Rondeau MS, ATC, CSCS, CHC, and I'm a certified health coach and personal trainer in Boston, MA. My goal is to motivate and inspire, and to help people lead healthier, happier lives, free of food guilt and deprivation.I offer personal training, bootcamp classes, and health coaching services both locally and for distance clients. I hope you enjoy what you find here, and please feel free to contact me for more information on services. Welcome, and I hope you stick around for a while!